Fuji FinePix S5 Pro Digital Camera Review

Fuji FinePix S5 Pro

Digital Camera Review

May 01, 2007 - By Patrick Singleton
4.4 The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro is Fujifilm's latest attempt at the perfect camera for wedding photographers. It has a new version of the company's extended-range SR sensor, with new adjustments that are meant specifically to handle facial highlights and white clothing (wedding dresses). The S5’s strong dynamic range and pleasing color are its unique selling points which are essentially a Fujifilm sensor and image process rig dropped into an otherwise unchanged Nikon D200. The S5 inherits the D200's excellent construction, shooting interface, TTL flash system and autofocus, but, unfortunately, not its burst speed. Speed has been a sore point of Fujifilm DSLRs, and apparently, it will continue to be.
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Fuji FinePix S5 Pro

Likes
- Extended dynamic range
- Excellent noise control
- Excellent color
- Excellent Nikon D200 mechanicals
- Nikon's great autofocus
Dislikes
- Slow shooting
- Menus are a mess
- Files are huge
- Battery incompatible with Nikon

Conclusion
The Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro’s image quality makes it a viable choice for pros and other quality-conscious photographers. Dynamic range, noise and color are all excellent. The S5's mechanicals – a Nikon D200 body, with Nikon autofocus, metering and flash – are also big assets. The drawbacks of the S2 and S3 bodies are gone.

The remaining drawback is speed. The shooting rate is glacial, and the camera churns away recording data for minutes at a time when it's shooting RAW files.

How important is that drawback? It's big. For wedding photographers, it probably means shooting with two bodies – the Fujifilm FinePix S5 Pro for image quality, and maybe a Nikon D200 or a Canon 30D for the shots that won't wait for a 30 MB file to write.

Overall Impressions Page 10 of 13 Sample Photos
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